Career ladder bullshit. Including wage theft. Religion.
Feeling extra edgy today! Society’s a scam, maaan!
Inflation. The money you have is worth less every year by design. It’s a secret tax on all of us.
Tbf we should always aim for slight inflation. You want to incentivize people to use their money on things so it circulates, and it being slightly depreciating is the best way to do that.
If it was the best option long term to just stuff money into a mattress and sit on it for a decade then that has it’s own problems
The best inflation is zero. The second best is slight inflation. The third best is slight deflation. Because they can’t control it that well they aim for slight inflation so it doesn’t go negative.
“best way to do that” for who? corporate profits, or humanity?
The thing about good scams is that they exist in the grey area between fraud and real services.
Almost every answer in this thread is an example of this. Insurance for example - this is when you pay someone else to take responsibility for a risk. The modern economy couldn’t exist without it. However, there are plenty of insurance policies which don’t provide much value and are more like fraud than a real service.
Printer cartridges
What should just be a little plastic box containing ink has a tiny computer inside to prove to the printer it’s not counterfeit. All so that the manufacture can have their give-the-razor-for-free-sell-the-blades business model, enforced by the anti-circumvention part of copyright law.
Are people still out there buying new ink cartridges every time they need to print something? I was sick of that s*** in 2019 and returned my printer to Costco and I’m never buying another printer again.
I just bought a laser printer. Toner never goes bad and it prints faster and better than ink
You just bought it? Well I’ve got news for you. It’s going to start nagging you about ink cartridges in a couple months. Yes even laser printers do this. I thought just like you when I bought a laser printer that I had escaped the ink cartridge nightmare. Nope.
“Your laser printer, which doesn’t use ink, will nag you about buying ink” is a wild sentence.
You must use Windows and bought an HP laser jet, cause I don’t have that problem. Linux + that Brother laser printer everyone has = tech that isn’t garbage.
Just a polite reminder that if you only need to print a few papers, it’s probably cheaper/easier/free to use the printer at local library! Mine does it for like 15 cents a paper, or for free if you have your own paper! Much less hassle than buying a good printer, sorting the ink situation and then fighting with that machine…
Free market capitalism
Credit scores!
•Buying home •Private insurance •New cars •Haircuts •Eating at expensive restaurant •Fast food •Subscriptions instead of owning •Brands •Cotton-swab not for ear •Jiffylube •Carbon emissions from consumer vehicles •Tariffs •Freetrade agreements •Food deliver services
cotton swabs?
Name brand Q-Tips
How do you think used cars exist if there aren’t people that buy new ones?
And… owning a home? Huh?
You never truly own the home due to property taxes.
Religion
Ah cool, this is the first answer that isnt actually just capitalism.
bro, what do you think tithing is?
Cordless power tools. Yes, they are useful in concept, but today they’re just a loss-leader to sell you overpriced batteries.
I wouldn’t call that a scam. (Modern) Cordless power tools are fucking incredible despite the branded batteries being a rip-off. I literally have corded tools that I don’t even use because extension cords are a real pain in the ass some times.
We are all one family under the sun, it just happens that people are born different.
Its why we like step sibling porn so much.
Because what tastes better than mom’s home cooking?
As the other commenter shared, in Germany they’re working on an interchangeable battery system. In the U.S., the manufacturers sell intro bundles cheaply to get us locked into their “ecosystem.” That’s the scam part. I’ve got a drill and impact driver set that i paid less for than the replacement cost of the included batteries. It’s the same scheme as inkjet printers.
Right I won’t deny the branded batteries are overpriced but that has nothing to do with the cordless power tools themselves, and with regard to Germany, I’m not sure what there really is to “work on” considering every pack is already the same 20V pack of 18650s with a few wires, a universal battery management system, and copper electrical contacts. “We’re working on it” is just an excuse to continue this practice while pretending like “we hear your concerns.”
The batteries should 100% be universal and interchangeable (to whatever degree is practical). The whole ecosystem nonsense can get fucked.
But as a form factor cordless is inherently superior for a lot of tools. I’m not gonna haul an extension cord onto a roof or whatnot.
I hate how the batteries are always incompatible with every other tool except (sometimes) the ones by the same manufacturer. Its tempting to get a petrol generator instead and just use corded tools.
You can buy adapters to use other batteries…it’s an extra step but doable,
Now picturing a McGregor to Parkside to Ryobi to Bosch to …
Massive stack of battery converters that ends up looping back round. Now you can take any tool and any battery and just split the stack where necessary. Of course if you want to go Parkside to McGregor you are going to have to have every single adapter in the stack.
Here in Germany at least, the OEMs are working together battery wise. The battery from X fits in Y and Z, whilst the battery from Y fits in X and Z.
Capitalism
Came here for that answer. Large concentrations of wealth generate structural power that can distort political decisions and markets in a way that serves to perpetuate itself. This creates a virtuous circle in which capital shapes return conditions / regulation / access advantages in such a way as to systematically favour further capital growth.
This is how Entropy manifests. We are Entropy machines.
User name mismatch with comment…
Preach
Nothing inside a video game should cost real money.
Ban the entire business model.
The middle class in general in a lot of countries
Passive income. If value is being created and you’re being presented some of it without doing any work it necessarily means that someone else isn’t receiving the full value of the work they’re doing.
Or you’re squeezing all the value and more out of the asset and users, while increasing externalities
Sounds cool til you realize the assets being squeezed are mostly just other people
Even if the assets aren’t people, not squeezing value is required to maintain some fun and life as well as long term sustainability. If you squeeze it, you might squeeze it dry. I hate all the adverts everywhere. Can I just go somewhere to save my eyes…
No no no. I gave them CULTURE! A wonderful work culture.
And security! Sure, not the security I decided I need for myself, and it’s only really present as long as they’re profitable to me, but security nonetheless.
After all, I had the idea and stuck my neck out to secure the financing, which is far more important than the actual daily labor that keeps things running.
We’re like a family, see.
In most cases I agree with you, but what about a musician who makes passive income off of people streaming their music, or people who buy my fonts?
Why should you be paid in perpetuity for work you did once? I’d love it if someone paid me residules for the work I did today making widgets.
But how should a singer who produces an album, or an author who writes a book, or whatever be compensated? Its popularity isn’t really known until after it’s published, it’s not really fair for a damn good writer to get paid the same as someone who produces slop.
Cap it at the original 28 years after creation. The current 70 years after the creator’s death is ridiculous.
Even 15 years is a lot of money for something you most likely spent under 6 months creating. Of course, we could always have a detailed system and not just one flat time frame.
I think people overestimate how much the average creator can get from their work over time. They need to keep creating to maintain a livable income. Also, 28 years is a good number because it prevents mega corporations from stealing from small creators. Imagine if some novel series becomes a big hit, but Disney or Warner Brothers could just adapt it whenever they pleased without paying the author.
Not passive income, they did the work of creating the music or the font
Doesent all passive income require some upfront work outside of investing?
No, that’s what makes it passive. Having money isn’t a job, investing isn’t work it’s gambling and extremely rigged.
If you inherit/“born rich” I don’t think so…
subset of capitalism
Absolutely
Bots farming engagement, huh just like this one!
Ugh, I didn’t even think to check, but that’s a pretty bare history. I’ve noticed some shitty questions lately, like the generic reddit drivel the other day about ‘what do you miss about pre-internet?’
haha I’m actually a student, our professor wants us to ask questions and study stuff about lemmy and I just chose a random popular question from reddit
Tipping (for the US and so), Tax and Rents
I like tipping (in the US). I feel like servers would be a lot less friendly if they weren’t so directly incentivized to be nice. Plus I’ve been treated somewhat gruffly by servers in countries that do not have tips. Maybe that is just dislike of U.S. citizens.
So you say you have to pay people to be nice? Thats fucked up…
Ah yes, the culture of punishing people pre-emptively with the threat of not being able to afford to live, in order to force them to be nice to your smug ass
| Maybe that is just dislike of U.S. citizens.
Quit possibly. I live in a country without a strong tipping culture and people are (generally) nice.
Progressive tax (based on income as well as the value of the item) isn’t a scam. Flat fee is a scam (eg: a hypothetical 0.02 cents to support veterans). Percentage based taxes like sales tax aren’t much better. Cliff based tax like luxury taxes are better but not as good as progressive taxes
I’ve always been in favour of tiered consumption taxes. Basic neccessities of life aren’t taxed. Sorta nice stuff gets taxed a bit. Uber lux stuff and harmful stuff gets taxed all the fucking way.
Example: bus pass? Free. Subcompact cheap EV? 20% tax. Lambo? 300% tax.
Rich fuckers have way too many ways of getting out of paying income tax. Tax the stuff instead so that you can’t live like a rich person without paying the kind of taxes rich people should be paying.
Business class ticket? 300% tax. Please have fun
